With An S: Pongs Is The Greatest Game(s)

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I think Pippin Barr may be in the running for developer of the year – and also Time Magazine’s person of the year and a Nobel Peace Prize. After the deceptively incredible Epic Sax Game debuted a couple weeks ago, Barr’s back with Pongs. No, not Pong. Someone else sort of already made that 40 years ago. Barr’s delightful spin on the tennis-played-in-a-void-of-infinite-darkness sim is made up of 36 variations – most of them absolutely hilarious, and some of them legitimately excellent.
The screenshot above, for instance, hails from Unfair Pong. You can probably connect the dots. Other standouts include Edutainment Pong, which pairs rapid-fire reflexes with geography-based multiple choice questions, Turn-Based Pong, which should be self-explanatory, and Serious Pong, an incredibly nuanced discussion of illegal refugees. It’s all positively glorious.

Go check it out, and prepare to laugh until you cry crocodiles. No, that’s not a typo.

This is extremely creative and without all of the fancy graphics of modern gaming systems. This game focuses so much on being creative with what it has, instead of squandering amazing graphics and advanced technology as many contemporary games often do. This captures an aspect of gaming that many people tend to forget and that’s fun. If Barr made such full use of low tech graphics like this, it would be incredible to see what he could do with 16 bit games or even beyond. This game seems similar in theme to 3D Dot Heroes in that it seems like a love letter to retro gaming and the creativity that was needed in a lower tech world.